Henry Ward recently appeared in the Patent’s County Court for the successful claimant in Orr-Adams v Bailey [2013] EWPCC 30. The case concerned a claim for breach of contract and/or breach of confidence arising out of the continued use by the defendants of the claimant’s cement formulations, and a claim for copyright infringement in a number of related documents.
The judge held the defendants’ “clean room” defence failed and that they had breached both the contract and the duties of confidence owed to the claimant. In the alternative the judge held that, in the circumstances, regardless whether there was a breach of confidence the defendants’ would have had to continue to pay royalties for the continued use of the formulations. The judge further held that the defendants had further infringed the claimant’s copyright in the related documents.